The invention concerns a system for distribution of incoming video conference calls to selected recipients.
FIG. 1 illustrates a telephone call center 12, in which a routing system 3 receives incoming calls from the public telephone network 6, or other type of network.
The routing system 3 examines the status of agents 9, locates an available agent, and routes the incoming call to that agent. The routing system is also called an ACD, which is an acronym for Automated Call Distribution system. The agents can take the form of people, as illustrated, or automated voice response systems, or other call-handling apparatus.
xe2x80x9cCall centerxe2x80x9d is a term-of-art. Call centers are commercially available, and one example is that sold under the name DEFINITY Enterprise Communication Server, manufactured by Lucent Technologies Inc. Call centers are frequently used, for example, by telephone merchandising organizations.
The calls just discussed are audio calls. Another type of call, namely, the video call, is coming into widespread use. However, ordinary call centers do not handle video calls, and cannot route such calls to agents. Other types of call centers, known as video ACDs, have become available which do route video calls. One type of video ACD is the Multimedia Automated Call Distribution (MACD), available from PictureTel Corporation, located in Andover, Massachusetts.
However, video ACD""s are somewhat expensive. Consequently, replacement of an ordinary ACD by a video ACD requires a significant capital investment. Further, video ACDs necessarily have a limited bandwidth: they can handle only a limited number of video calls.
An object of the invention is to provide a system for distributing video conferencing calls.
A further object of the invention is to provide a system for distributing video conferencing calls which can be retrofitted to existing ACDs, or existing computer networks.
A further object of the invention is to provide a system for distributing video conferencing calls which has no significant bandwidth limitation.
In one form of the invention, a remote computer calls a server, requesting a video conference with an agent. The server selects an agent to participate in the video conference, identifies the selected agent to the computer, and notifies the selected agent of the forthcoming call. The computer then places a second call, which is a video call and is independent of the initial call, directly to the selected agent, without involvement of the server.